My feelings coming out of the current economic climate have been mixed, especially at this time of year. Often a difficult financial period for many, this year made worse, there’s not much scope for a positive message. I was going down the ‘Managing with Christmas’ track but a group of men in a pub in Essex gave me a different focus.
They have formed a humbug club, objecting not to the concept of Christmas itself but to what it has come to mean: commercialism, expense, hype etc. They are happy to celebrate and participate in Christmas but just on the day and in a truer spirit- the club collects fines from members to donate to a children’s charity.
With their controversial reindeer on the menu aside, their intentions resonated- surely this is a better time than ever to concentrate on what the Christmas concept is originally all about?
The Meaning of Christmas?
In today’s generic, multicultural celebration of Christmas, it is a festival that at its core should essentially be about family and charity. The original Christmas card commissioned in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole epitomizes these 2 concepts completely. So to follow November’s reflections on ‘Taking Stock’, consider how much Christmas this year is about family and charity or gifts and stress?
Getting back to basics:
These quotes say it better than I ever could…
For centuries men have kept an appointment with Christmas. Christmas means fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, home.
W.J. Ronald Tucker
Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts.
Janice Maeditere
Wouldn't life be worth the living
Wouldn't dreams be coming true
If we kept the Christmas spirit
All the whole year through?
Author Unknown
Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.
Author unknown, attributed to a 7-year-old named Bobby
I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.
Charles Dickens
Open your presents at Christmastime but be thankful year round for the gifts you receive.
Lorinda Ruth Lowen
And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?
Dr. Seuss
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